Suisei no Gargantia Ep 13: Beautiful Sacrifice [FINAL]

“Go to hell tin can!”

Eva’s Final Impression:
*STANDS UP AND CLAPS FURIOUSLY* Urobuchi Gen, I knew I could count on you to deliver us brilliant ending. *GROSS SOBBING*
I am in tears, Chamber- OH CHAMBER! Chamber for the first time truly showed feeling and emotion which is why the scene left me in ruins because he did this all for Ledo’s wish of survival, and even told Striker, “GO TO HELL TIN CAN!” and that my friends, was probably the first time Chamber ever said something so human and has nothing to do with his system’s program. That final bit of the battle was emotionally overwhelming, but yet beautiful at the same time because the bond between Chamber and Ledo is extraordinary. They have been through a lot, they had their ups and downs with agreements and disagreements but in the end, the two of them were family. For the longest time Chamber was all Ledo had. Chamber’s cockpit was his home, the two of them lived on the battlefield, but as they both were given a chance to learn what living actually feels like on Earth with the Gargantia crew and shaping their perspective and knowledge that opened their eyes, Gargantia became their new  and true home.
I was honestly expecting deaths since I was being very wary, and holy shit Amy, flying just outside of the battlefield scared the crap out of me! I was worried that Striker was going to shoot her down, be it intentionally or a crossfire and Ledo merging with the machine that was basically suicidal REALLY scared me because I didn’t want him to die, but I am happy that Urobuchi decided to give a happy ending thanks to Chamber’s sacrifice and determination to protect humanity from Striker’s messed up logic of, “Thinking and making decisions is a burden, promising (my ass) recommendation: Worship me. Obey me.”
The key turned out to be what activates a catapult and its system, “Orbital Mass Driver System, Gargantia”, it fires explosions like arrows into the sky with incredible accuracy. It was thanks to this Lost Age weapon that they were able to easily destroy the enemy’s headquarters (oh man it was great to see Striker’s castle blown up) as well as their treasury that stored all of their relics (Lost Age Weapons). Initially Pinion was going to handle it himself, hinting that he’ll go down with the place, but thanks to Gargantia’s ladder to the stars, and Rackage’s excellent strict orders and timing, Pinion was able to get out alive.
With that said, I am pretty sure that most of us have immediately started shipping Rackage x Pinion after watching this episode. It makes me even more thrilled that it appears Rackage has even joined Gargantia rather than continue being a pirate aka enemy. Of all things, she probably relishes the colorful life after living in the grey world of misery over on the other wacko fleet. They are very fortunate that Gargantia is accepting the refugees and god forbid the sub-leaders on board.
Both Amy and Bevel played a huge role in opening Ledo’s world. Their actions made him relieve memories he had no recollection of, cry, and educated him the ways of life. Gargantia as whole though played an important role, by becoming Ledo’s family and home. And really, this is one of the things I loved most about the show, showing you what we humans can do when we work together and support one another.
Oh man it emotionally ruins me now that Chamber is gone. While Ledo is living life on his own, using his head, working machinery without a support system and even gone as far as learning how to calm the Whalesquids– I still miss him dearly. Oh man I’m crying again, I should have stocked up on tissues- I’m running out here.
Overall Suisei no Gargantia offered us a refreshing new and original storyline that showed us both the dark and bright side of human natures and a young soldier boy who lived on the battlefield for almost his entire life having a chance at experiencing life on Earth after having failed to get into the wormhole back to his messed up society, the Galactic Alliance. Knowing Urobuchi Gen’s nature as a writer with his previous series, a lot of us naturally went in cautiously- expecting the worse outcome for the cast. However he surprised us with giving us a beautiful story with a happy ending. Although it may have felt draggy from some people, personally I loved every minute of this show because everything that Ledo had experienced played a crucial role to his character development, which was part of the main focus of the story. Then to make it even better, the plot based on learning about the dark secrets involving about the Galactic Alliance and their war against the Hideauze buried in the ruins of Lost Age was incredibly thrilling, as it left a major psychological impact on Ledo who then truly began questioning his actions and purposes for the first time.
And I absolutely loved it.
RIP Chamber, you will be missed dearly.
 
Chris’ Final Impression:
Chamber! My love! I shall always remember you… until the next awesome mech appears on my screen and we form a special bond… Ehem, that aside I can’t believe Chamber didn’t turn on Ledo and kill him. Did anyone else think Chamber was going to turn on Ledo in that scene where he (Ledo, that is) cried? I was like “Here it is! Time for the Urobutcher to kill everyone! Mwhahaha….”. No such thing happened. We actually received a ‘good’ ending. Honestly, I can’t believe the predictions were correct. Gen Urobuchi delivered us a story in which not everyone had to die to make an emotional impact and ultimately happiness is actually achieved. He has finally shown us something new, unwavering despair doesn’t make a story ‘good’ and it doesn’t make it ‘dramatic’. A series that builds upon several episodes of happiness and unadulterated living and then throws that life into turmoil in the most gratifying way possible, yes, that is a ‘good’ story, that is drama.

Not to put a damper on things but… Why is Pinion a nice guy all of a sudden? And I get the Lukkage wants out and is willing to do anything to get off ‘Kugel’s’ ship but… wasn’t she a ruthless pirate all of ten episodes ago who didn’t care about anyone? What? Did she hit her head when Ledo (I mean, Chamber, of course) threw her across the ocean, causing her repressed innocence and decency to come flooding out into hormonal waves of philanthropy and camaraderie? Let’s start a revolution with this blonde guy who I’ve only just met and know nothing about! Obviously Lukkage learnt nothing from the Munich Putsch. Okay, okay, fine, maybe Pinion didn’t betray Lukkage and actually turned out to be quite useful in the grand scheme of things… but still! I’m just saying, you know? And what’s with this Pinion x Lukkage development?! So we’ve got this well fleshed out and developed relationship in the form of Ledo x Amy… and then we have Lukkage x Pinion, a ‘relationship’ (I use the term loosely because the attraction was only ever implied) that came about after one or two meetings. Love at first sight? I think not.

Single gripe aside, I loved this episode. Drama, tension, heart wrenching scenes and a spectacular goodbye… Yeah, this was the episode we’d been waiting for since that trailer three months ago. I’m not going to talk about anything Eva already mentioned because, you know, we agree on pretty much everything to do with this episode. I guess that’s why my final impression is going to appear somewhat more pessimistic… you know what? F*** it. I’m going full on cynic. Eva can point out the good, I can point out the bad (if I can find anything that is).
The Lost Age weapon…! Was a bit of a let down. Did anyone else think it would be a bit more nuclear tech than World War 1 artillery? I don’t know, they made this golden key out to be the key (if you’ll pardon the pun) to their success, a weapon that shouldn’t be used unless Gargantia be placed under a serious threat… The weapon Pinion was using was probably almost as strong as this ‘Tower of Doom’. I don’t know, maybe I’m just being petty.

I’m not going to be completely negative however, I mean, I of all people can’t resist talking about a good romance… WHAT’S THIS?! NO KISS?! NO KISS?!?!?! OUTRAGE! Nah, I’m joking, I guess I can settle for a slow hand in hand walk away from the camera… what? There was no hand holding? No real confession of love? Why GEN? WHY YOU NO GOOD AT ROMANCE?! Fine, fine, fine; I didn’t come into Suisei no Gargantia expecting a romance (actually I did, I’m just trying to appease our readers at this point in time so they don’t shout at me for being an asshole) and I guess I can forgive the lack of it… but that mid-air confession from Amy was nice… “I want to stay by you side forever”… yeah, that’s the stuff…

Overall Suisei no Gargantia is an amazing anime that left me with many a feel in my heart… Just read Eva’s conclusive paragraph if you want to get the general gist of where I was going…
Now it’s time for a detour! It’s time for… ‘Point Our Flaws With Chris!’. Number one, the Hideauze, was it really necessary to reveal that they were human? Think about it. By that point Ledo had already been given a ‘soul’, in fact, I’d argue that he was given it in the scene where Bevel plays the ocarina and Ledo ‘remembers’ his brother. If anything, the Hideauze revelation acted as more a side story in order to place the Gargantia splinter group where they were in order to meet Kugel. The Hideauze truth isn’t actually that important if you think about it… It’s basically the main plot of the Planet of the Apes film series if Suisei no Gargantia had chosen to make that it’s primary plot point.
Number two! Side character syndrome was an issue in Suisei… introduce a character, relegate them to background ornament in the next episode. It would have been nice to see life on Gargantia whilst all the crazy early days Kugel shiz was going on is all I’m saying.
But yeah, that’s it for today on ‘Pessimism with Chris!’.
Suisei no Gargantia was awesome.
Despite my bitching… I was just trying to diversify this post okay?!
 
P.S, Chamber killed that Hideauze girl because that’s who he is and because she didn’t deserve to live… two episode later he’s committing suicide because he wants Ledo to have a good life? I’d say it was racism if I didn’t think I’d get punched in the face by Chamber fan girls… I get that he was built by ‘pure’ humans for ‘pure’ humans, but still…

Stay tuned for the Overall Review.